September 5-13, 2026 • Waterloo, ON
RoadStar Hackathon 2026 Recap
Nine days. Thirty-five teams. Dozens of projects built for the future of trucking.
Students, developers, and industry veterans came together to modernize one of North America's most essential industries — proving that AI-era teams can rebuild manual logistics workflows in a fraction of the usual time.
By the Numbers
Verified from the RoadStar event platform and the Devpost project gallery.
Global Reach
Across Devpost and the RoadStar event platform — 146 located registrants from 23 countries and territories.
Top Countries by Registrants
Plus Rwanda, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Poland, Argentina, Australia, Morocco, Hong Kong, Egypt, Switzerland and Turkey. Country is based on each registrant's location on Devpost and, for event-platform registrants, their affiliated university; registrations without a locatable affiliation are not shown.
From Registration to Submission
24.6% of Devpost registrants went on to submit a project, and every submitted project was published to the public gallery.
The Winners
1st Place
Team Prime
Roadstar DispatchOS
$2,000 Cash
A fleet dispatch and optimization platform that turns fragmented, manual planning into an automated workflow.
2nd Place
We Will Win
Jarvis
$500 Cash
An AI dispatch assistant that connects drivers, loads, and schedules in one place.
3rd Place
Andromeda
Apex Corridor Systems
$500 Cash
A data-driven routing and corridor intelligence tool for freight operators.
Road Star Jacket Award
Swag was given out at the event — over 20 shirts, 2 jackets and 50 ball caps — and Spur Innovation, an AI company in the same space as ChatGPT, offered developers roughly $30,000 to $150,000 in AI credits to build out these projects.
Online Submission Award 1
RoadStar Winjay
$1,500 AI Credits · Spur Innovation
One platform to move every load, truck, and driver.
Online Submission Award 2
Fleet management system
$1,500 AI Credits · Spur Innovation
A fleet management system built for real-world dispatch and operations.
Event Videos
Relive the weekend — from the Day 1 kickoff to the final demos and awards ceremony.
Kickoff & Team Formation
Highlights from Day 1 at Prohibition Warehouse in Waterloo — the meet & greet, introductions, and team formation.
Final Demos & Awards Ceremony
The in-person final presentations and awards ceremony at the Spur Innovation Centre, where Team Prime, We Will Win, and Andromeda were crowned.
Event Gallery
Final Presentations
Teams demoing their projects to the judges at the Spur Innovation Centre on September 13.
What Teams Built
Seventeen projects were submitted through the event portal; twenty-eight were published to the Devpost gallery.
Batman's Butler
Alfred
A day-ahead dispatch optimizer built on the event's Excel dataset, with a 13-page manager and driver web app for one-click assignment, invoicing with PDFs, and automated detention billing.
Polavis
RoadPilot AI Dispatch Advisor
A risk decision-support platform with three XGBoost models (SHAP-explained) served through a live re-inference microservice, a simulation engine for geofenced detention billing, and Claude, OpenWeather and Ontario-511 integrations.
Pontuners
Backhaul AI
A backhaul yield engine with a tested Python scoring core, a guarded LLM "Why" explainer that only cites computed numbers, a dispatcher board, and a phone-optimized driver view with live HOS clocks.
Team Prime
RoadStar DispatchOS
A dispatcher workspace with one-click fleet planning, automated detention, live MapLibre/OSRM/Ontario-511 mapping, camera proof-of-delivery with AI signature checks, PDF intake, and a 3D trailer load planner.
2 Laps and 2 Laptops
Troober
A real-time load dispatch and live-tracking map with a server-enforced load lifecycle and device GPS streaming, seeded from the event's Loads dataset.
Andromeda
Apex Corridor Systems
An end-to-end dispatch loop that ingests the event dataset and links a Next.js dispatcher dashboard, a driver ELD web app and a WebSocket relay, with a 3D cargo/axle-fit view and a voice-driven AI co-pilot.
Gladiolus
Gladiolus
An event-sourced dispatch platform with server-authoritative streaming, real HOS and axle-weight feasibility gates, detention billing, ELD webhook boundaries and a live dispatcher board.
we'll win
Jarvis
A conversational voice AI dispatch assistant that connects to the dashboard so dispatchers can run dispatch automations hands-free by voice.
Junsu Park
DockRisk
A detention-risk platform with a Canadian HOS rules engine, full import of the event's five-sheet workbook, a geofence-driven visit and detention state machine with automatic charge drafts, and live Leaflet tracking with Ontario-511 and OSRM.
Kaung Zin Hein
Rhode
An offline-capable React Native driver app backed by a Fastify/PostGIS service, with idempotent version-checked commands, an OR-Tools/Valhalla route optimizer and detailed HOS and detention-evidence tracking.
Marse Omani
Roadster AI
A native Android (Kotlin/Compose) fleet-management app with 11 screens and a clean MVVM structure, covering live fleet views, AI-assisted load matching and driver workflows.
Muhammad Arisnanda
Streamr
A programmable payments layer for real-time payment streams and recurring subscriptions using stablecoins on the Stellar network.
Nathanaël Lambert
Truckafka
A Kafka/PostGIS microservice dispatch platform with a time-travel timeline, A* routing over imported OpenStreetMap roads, geofencing, and a native Expo driver app that reports GPS and duty status.
Operational Trust Pipeline
Operational Trust Pipeline
A deterministic trust layer for trucking that flags what needs attention, routes it to the right human response, and records verifiable offline evidence at every step.
PDX
PDX RoadStar
An integrity-first operations simulator that runs a historical baseline against "PDX-managed" operations, with autonomous due-event matching, an approval-ledger execution runtime and audited detention dossiers.
Sponsors & Partners
This event was made possible by the organizations below.
Road Star Trucking
Presenting Sponsor & Host
Donated $3,000 in cash prizes, food, and accessories, and provided the real-world industry challenge and expertise behind the event.
Spur Innovation
Venue & AI Credits Partner
Donated the Spur Innovation Centre convention space for judging and finals, plus $1,500 AI credits for each Online Submission Award winner.
The Prohibition Warehouse
Kickoff Venue
Hosted the Day 1 meet & greet and team formation night in Waterloo.
Pizza Nova
Food Sponsor
Donated free pizza for participants and volunteers throughout the event.
Locally Connected
Community Partner
Community leadership support and promotion across the Waterloo tech ecosystem.
AWS Student Builder Group at WLU
Volunteer & Community Partner
Volunteer support and community outreach through the AWS Student Builder Group.
Volunteers & Appreciation
With thanks to the volunteers from Spur Innovation, Road Star Trucking, the AWS Student Builder Group at Wilfrid Laurier University, and the wider community who made the event run smoothly.
Joe Smelko
Certificate of Appreciation
Sharif Virani
Certificate of Appreciation
Keith Singh
Certificate of Appreciation
Shahid Ullah
Certificate of Appreciation
Yash Hiren Dave
Certificate of Appreciation
Sawaab Anas
Certificate of Appreciation
Kritika Kamath
Certificate of Appreciation
Mustafa Khalil
Certificate of Appreciation
Abdul Aziz Hyder
Certificate of Appreciation
Vibhavlyna Kuppam
Certificate of Appreciation
Issam Ahmad
Certificate of Appreciation
Why It Matters
Trucking and logistics still run on manual processes and fragmented tools. Dispatchers spend their day coordinating drivers instead of winning business — on average missing 1–3 loads a day, worth $1,000–$10,000 in lost revenue, because they are occupied with dispatching drivers rather than dealing with potential customers.
In nine days, RoadStar Hackathon teams delivered working fleet management, dispatch, routing, and mobile solutions that target exactly these gaps. The same automation can raise revenue and cut cost across the business — and put the workforce back in front of customers doing sales and quoting:
Interested in sponsoring or hosting the next RoadStar Hackathon?
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